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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I never review movies but hated this so much and didn't find nearly enough vitriol on here.I didn't go into this wanting to dislike it and withheld judgment until the final act. And before I get ripping, I did find the second husband, the polley one, to be likable if completely uninteresting. As other reviewers have stated, this is not an examination of or even a rumination on narrative or recollection or truth or family. The film attempts to explain to us how deep it is in the last act, seeking to justify itself and help us process the deep currents that arnt there. That stuff is clearly tacked on and then overtly hammered home in a specious, ', if we have have the genial gravitas of a liberal arts class or Ira Glass, maybe people will swallow it' way to compensate for the total flimsiness and worthlessness of the film both formally and in terms of character/narrative/thought/substance.I'm shocked that a movie that has to literally state its thesis at least three times toward the end in an attempt to justify its existence, and hopes to pass that off as either clever or deep and 'meta', hasn't been more widely ridiculed,Furthermore, Sarah P is generally unlike able (we hear her voice, and see her in the process of making the film and are imp'icitly supposed to identify with her and root for her without ever being given reason to -and I am a cinephile because I am eager to empathize with the voices and faces on the screen). The mom character, who is sketched broadly and reductively (with the same simple take of her repeated over and over but apparently she was not interesting enough for anyone to have a engaging anecdote), seemed intolerable.And the biological father (Harry?) is one of the grossest people I have ever seen in a documentary. Totally delusional narcissistic clown, totally Embarrassing to watch. Incredible shocking disgusting hate-able narcissism that is emblematic of the worst of the wannabe baby boom generation, just as Sarah P seems to hold down the vapid navel gazing narcissism for gen x or whatever she is. Can more people flay this garbage pleease? Check out Close Up or My Winnipeg for films dealing with the complexity of narrative and origin that actually carry intellectual and artistic weight

Stories We Tell (2012) is a documentary written and directed by Sarah Polley. This movie is unusual because it's actually a biography of the filmmaker and her family, narrated by her father, "starring" her siblings and herself, along with Polley's relatives and family friends. But the film isn't straight biography or autobiography. It's a quest film as well.Sarah's siblings and family friends begin by talking about Sarah's mother, Diane, who died, aged 55, in 1990, when Sarah was 11 . (There's some actual 8mm footage of the family, intermixed with staged footage that has the same grainy look of old amateur filmmaking.)Sarah's mother was beautiful, and she was vivacious and fun-loving. Sarah's dad was a handsome, decent person, but no one would describe him as vivacious and fun-loving. The marriage wasn't terrible, but it was clear to the couple--and eventually to their children--that it wasn't a good match.That much information is established in the first half-hour of the movie. Then the question arises as to whether Sarah's dad is really her biological father. Polley decides to dig for this answer, and interview the same people she's already interviewed, although this time asking the question, "Who's my father?" Polley accumulates information bit by bit, and eventually expands her search to include people who knew Diane when she was performing in a play out of town. As Sarah embarks on this search, the camera keeps rolling, and we go along at her side. It's a fascinating ride, because everyone has part of the picture, but only two people had the answer, and one of them is no longer alive.Stories We Tell is a quiet, careful movie. There's anger, but no shouting, sadness, but no tears. Sarah Polley is in the middle of it all, but she's credited as the director, not as the star. In a way, the star of the movie really is the late Diane Polley, but she's the one person who can't tell her side of the story. That's what makes the whole thing so fascinating.This is a movie you will want to see if you enjoy quiet, thoughtful, serious films. It will work equally well on a small or large screen.

I've been a fan of Sarah Polley since "The Sweet Hereafter," and Michael P is memorable as one of the music-hall cutups in "Slings and Arrows" (which is on our shortlist of best TV series ever, btw). I guess it's interesting that even Canadian showfolk sometimes got up to mischief in the 70s; Sarah's no Errol Morris, but she does a pretty good job of rounding up the surviving members of her extended family (most of them quite charming) and "interrogating" them about what went on in those days. A fair number of online commenters have objected to the sly way that a few staged scenes, cleverly processed to look like vintage Super 8, are included in the film, but that only seems to underscore the point that the past can only be recovered through memory and the imagination. (It's pretty clear which scenes are staged and which are real home movies, I think.) I agree that the critics may have oversold this one, and it does go on a bit too long after the big reveal, but basically I'd recommend it.

Produced in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada, Canadian director Sarah Polley's documentary Stories We Tell is a tender and often moving inquiry into the life of her mother Diana who died in 1990 from cancer when Sarah was only eleven years old. Her investigation, consisting of interviews with her Toronto family members aided by Super-8 home movies (60% of which are recreated using look-alike actors), uncovers family secrets that slowly begin to be revealed during the course of the film. Sarah not only directs the movie but also conducts the interviews with the storytellers that include her father, siblings and half-siblings, and close friends of her mother who all share their memories of Diana and what she meant to them in their lives.Though Sarah does not share her own feelings or thoughts, she does acknowledge that her bond with Michael and her four siblings grew closer after her mother's death. Polley comes from a family closely associated with the theater. Her mother was an actress as was her father Michael, who narrates the story from his written account of his memories. Family members are asked to "tell the story from the beginning until now," and they relate their recollection of Diana and how she affected their lives, their stories filled with emotion and sometimes tears. As the storytellers go on, it becomes clear that Diana was a free spirit who was a more complex person than at first imagined.Everyone's memories of Diana and the details of her life are somewhat different but, on the whole, they complement each other, each providing one more piece of the puzzle. One interesting aspect of the story is the long term close relationship Diana had with film producer Harry Gulkin, a former union organizer and left-wing activist, and how the consequences of their affair strongly impacted Sarah's life. Though the film talks about their affair as one that stemmed from Michael's inability to satisfy Diana on many levels, we do not really know Diana's own thoughts and feelings on the subject.As far as Gulkin is concerned, he does share his point of view but lets it be known that he is uncomfortable in the context of the film and that he feels the story should be his alone to tell. Although it may go on a bit longer than necessary, Stories We Tell is never less than fascinating and is especially noteworthy for its refusal to engage in mawkishness or sentimentality. Though there are differences in interpretation among the storytellers, the fact that Sarah's family remains supportive of each other after all the years is a testament to their resilience and mutual respect.Stories We Tell underscores the point that it is difficult to separate what actually happened from the story we tell about it, our interpretation of the event. What is not said, however, is that over time, the story may become the only reality we know. When that happens, we no longer have a story, but we become our story, a position that severely limits our ability to grow. Perhaps the film's greatest contribution is to suggest a process that other families can use to look at how their interpretations often get in the way of acknowledging the simple truth of what happened and allow them to see events in their life from a broader perspective.